The first person space shooter was a popular genre on the Atari 2600. Activisionís entry into the fray is Starmaster. While Atari's own Star Raiders required a keypad to control the functions of your starship, Starmaster used the 2600ís color/black and white switch to toggle your star map screen on and off. This allowed for a deeper game play experience, while still keeping things simple.

Your job is simply to defend all of the starbases in the area by destroying enemy ships. Taking hits while battling out the enemy results in your ship taking damage. Your warp drive can be destroyed, weapon systems disabled, shields eliminated, or radar destroyed. The only way to repair this damage (and refuel your ship) is to dock with a local starbase.

Your game ends when either all enemies are destroyed or your ship is eliminated. Any Mission Evaluation score of Star Master in the game qualified you to be inducted into the Order of the Supreme StarMaster. Lower ranks made you eligible to receive commendations as well. Sending a picture of your score to Activision would result in your receiving a Starmaster patch commemorating your excellent score! (Contributed by Lord Helmet)